Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1461 Temple Calculation
Sun Shangxiang was the one who was talking in the room. She said, "Over the years, I have spent less time with my mother than with the Queen. So in my eyes, the Queen is like my mother."

"I am not opposed to marrying the prince, but I feel that I am not capable of leading the harem, so I would rather serve the queen mother for the rest of my life and die alone."

Zhen Mi said with a headache: "Child, why are you so stubborn? Over the years, I have raised you as my own daughter. What's wrong with making us closer relatives?"

"I know Rui'er is younger and a little dull, but her character is fine. Or do you have someone else you like?"

Sun Shangxiang lowered her head and said sullenly, "I know the prince is a good person, but I just don't want to stay in the harem."

Zhen Mi sighed, "That's true. Your Majesty has been fighting wars all these years, and the palace is lonely. I have also endured these years. But now the world is peaceful. Rui'er will not be running around like his father in the future, and he will have more time to accompany you."

After hearing these two sentences, Yuan Xi walked in and saw Zhen Mi with a helpless look on her face. Sun Shangxiang spoke with her back to her, "I know the Queen's feelings, but after my mother passed away, I..."

She heard footsteps behind her, turned her head and saw Yuan Xi coming in. She said nothing immediately. Yuan Xi walked over to sit next to Zhen Mi, thought for a moment, and said, "Since you have made up your mind, I will not force you."

"You can do whatever you want, marry or not, marry whomever you want, it's up to you."

Zhen Mi was surprised and said: "Your Majesty, this..."

Yuan Xi held her hand, shook his head and said, "When children grow up, they will always have their own ideas. In this case, why should we force them to do something and regret it for the rest of their lives?"

Zhen Mi was tangled up and said, "But now the ceremony of appointing a crown prince is imminent. If we don't appoint a crown princess at the same time, I'm afraid the ministers in the court will have some opinions. This..."

Yuan Xi sighed, "It's okay, it's not a big deal. Although the emperor's family puts state affairs first, it doesn't mean that they will be heartless and force people to go all the way."

He turned to Sun Shangxiang and said, "When your mother was alive, I owed her a lot. Now that you and Rui'er are not compatible, I will not force you."

"Although you are not my biological child, I have raised you as my own daughter over the years. You should understand this."

Yuan Xi did not expect that Sun Shangxiang's eyes turned red. She stood up, bowed, turned around and ran out, leaving Yuan Xi and Zhen Mi looking at each other in bewilderment.

Zhen Mi sighed, "Children nowadays are really opinionated. This is a problem of discipline. I am really ashamed of your majesty."

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "We are an old married couple, why are you ashamed? I have left you alone in the palace all these years, and I am the one who is sorry for you."

"In general, marriages between noble families are based on family politics. Although there are many harmonious couples, there are also many with conflicting personalities that lead to enmity."

"A forced melon is not sweet. It doesn't mean that it must be someone. Next, let's see who among the women of the noble families is the right candidate to be Rui'er's principal wife."

"By the way, you should take good care of it these days, because we will be leaving for Jicheng soon."

Zhen Mi was surprised and asked, "Everyone? I'm going with you?"

"What about Yecheng?"

Yuan Xi said: "Yecheng has no strategic value now. It is just a prosperous city. Let it be an economic center."

"Shouchun is the same. The current front line is actually Chang'an and Nanchang. After the world is pacified, these two cities will be like Yecheng."

"The world will soon be unified, and the secondary capital system will no longer be necessary. The national border that needs to be guarded is always in Jicheng, Youzhou."

Zhen Mi said, "The Jin forces have been pushed more than a thousand miles outside the Great Wall, and you still call it the front line?"

Yuan Xi said: "That's right, at least it will be the same for me and the next two generations, unless we can completely occupy the Far North."

"Or if within three generations, we can initially develop the chemical industry, completely suppressing and blocking the future of the northern grassland nomads from a technological perspective."

"Before that, we must not relax at all. In comparison, the threat from the indigenous peoples in the southern border waters and even the outer islands can be said to be almost negligible."

Zhen Mi asked, "What about Wei and Hannan?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "This is actually what I don't have to worry about the least." "With Kong Ming and Boyan, the Jingyi region will be just like this."

"The most threatening generals on both sides are actually old, and the new generation of generals has not given them the opportunity to display their talents."

"So we just need to keep an eye on the outside of the pass from Youzhou and wait for Kong Ming and his men to build the road into Yizhou."

As the temperature rose in spring, war broke out again in the southwest. The difference was that this time Hanzhong was attacked from two directions at the same time.

The road from Wuzhangyuan to Hanzhong was built over 300 miles in more than two years, and there were less than 100 miles left to reach the city of Hanzhong, so Wei State estimated that Jin State would launch an offensive at the turn of summer and winter.

But what they did not expect was that Zhuge Liang had prepared a large amount of supplies in advance this time, and temporarily mobilized the labor that had been accumulated in Chang'an area for three years. He mobilized more than 100,000 people at once to build roads day and night.

The Jin army was already very familiar with the Hanzhong Road. The most difficult section had already been repaired, and the remaining hundred miles of mountain roads were relatively easy. So in just one month, the road construction progress advanced by fifty or sixty miles, and they were approaching the outer defense line outside Hanzhong City.

This caught Xiahou Shang off guard, because at this time Sima Yi had been transferred back to Chengdu by Cao Pi to attack the Southern Barbarians. Xiahou Shang was short of manpower, and at this time another bad news came.

Lu Xun, the Grand Commander of Jianghuai, personally led a large army from Jiangxia to attack Shangyong Fangling, advancing both by land and sea. Relying on the siege equipment on the warships, he was unstoppable and attacked directly from the east to Hanzhong.

When Xiahou Shang saw the battle report saying that Lu Xun had dispatched at least 50,000 troops, he knew that Hanzhong was doomed, because Zhuge Liang also had at least nearly 50,000 people, not counting the conscripted civilians. These people could easily flatten Hanzhong.

Right now, all Xiahou can muster are 30,000 Cao troops stationed in farmland, and at most tens of thousands of civilians can be conscripted. This is the limit of Hanzhong. The key is that the opponent's timing is very accurate, which is the time of spring ploughing and summer harvest. This means that there is no hope for Hanzhong's military food in the first half of the year.

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Xiahou Shang was furious. In this case, there was no need for spring ploughing. He should mobilize all the people in Hanzhong and the Jin army to perish together, and then burn Hanzhong down to see how the Jin State would deal with the aftermath!

In the days that followed, the war broke out on the outer defense line near the Hanzhong Basin. The families of the Wei soldiers who were farming were all transferred to the rear. While saving food, the Wei soldiers were afraid of being implicated and having no way to retreat, so they could only defend the defense line with all their might.

The Jianghuai soldiers on Lu Xun's side could no longer attack by water at this time. Although Hanzhong was the source of the Han River, the further upstream they went, the more difficult it was to travel. So Lu Xun let the ships transport food and supplies, while he led his troops to travel light and fight with the Wei army all the way.

The generals under his command were Wen Pin, Jiang Qin and Xu Sheng, all of whom were proficient in both land and water warfare. They coordinated their troops on both sides of the Han River and quickly defeated the Wei army.

Of course, although Lu Xun has been making steady progress, the progress is not very fast. The reason for this is that the drizzle has never stopped since the beginning of spring this year. It has rained for more than 20 days in a month.

Compared with Zhuge Liang's route, the dirt roads along Lu Xun's route were more easily affected by rain. The soldiers marched and fought on the muddy roads every day, which not only affected their morale, but also caused great losses in military equipment and supplies.

The reason for this is that, logically speaking, when it rains, both sides should cease fighting, because rain has a great impact on armor and weapons, especially iron swords and bowstrings. The rate of damage to weapons in the rain is dozens of times higher than usual.

However, the order the Jin army received was to ensure adequate supply of military equipment regardless of losses. The only requirement was to advance to Hanzhong before summer.

Lu Xun began to think that this was too extravagant, until he saw that the Wei army was even more stretched in using weapons on rainy days, then he understood Yuan Xi's idea, which was to use money to kill the enemy.

With the logistical strength of the two sides completely disproportionate, the Wei army retreated all the way. However, not only that, the continuous spring rain also completely destroyed Xiahou Shang's trump card combat plan.

Now he was standing on the top of Hanzhong City. He saw the urgent report sent all the way from Shangyong and threw it down at his feet, feeling extremely depressed.

His idea was that when the Jin army attacked from two directions, the Wei army would rely on the mountain road fortifications to defend. If they could not resist, they would break up into small groups, set fire to all the dense forests along the Hanzhong Road, and use fire to kill the Wei army.

For this purpose, Xiahou Shang prepared a large amount of ignition fuel in the past three years. In addition, he predicted that the time for the Jin army to attack would be the dry autumn, so he was quite confident at first. However, he did not expect that the other side would take advantage of the rainy spring to attack!
That’s not all. The amount of spring rain this year was several times that of previous years. The ground in Hanzhong City had never been dry. Not only did Lu Xun fight desperately to attack in the rain, but Zhuge Liang also advanced steadily along the way. Moreover, he had a complete set of rainproof equipment, which showed that he had been prepared in advance!

While Xiahou Shang was feeling depressed, he also felt a sense of doubt in his heart. Could it be that the other party had predicted the heavy rain this spring?
impossible?

But if this is true, then would Sima Yi, who left earlier, have also thought about this question?
But why didn't he remind himself from beginning to end?
While Xiahou Shang's mind was filled with numerous doubts, Zhao Yun, in a tent fifty miles north of Hanzhong, looked out at the rainy sky and sighed to Zhuge Liang: "The Prime Minister is really a genius. He can even calculate that this year will be the rainiest year in Hanzhong."

Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan and smiled, "Before sending out troops, we must observe the celestial phenomena at night and make full preparations."

"Otherwise, no matter how many soldiers we have in Jin, we are afraid that the Wei army will use fire attacks and burn the area around Hanzhong, which will cause great trouble in the future."

"We sent troops this year to prevent this kind of situation. This continuous rainy season will last for at least three months. This period is the best time to capture Hanzhong. Even if the Wei army wants to imitate the burning of Yecheng, it can't do it."

(End of this chapter)